It was Murray's fifth title of what is turning out to be his best year, having reached the Australian Open final, French Open final, winning Wimbledon and the Olympics.

"It's been the most consistent year of my career, getting to the latter stages of most of the events I have played," Murray told Sky Sports after dispatching Dimitrov.

"Today's match was a very high-level match. Grigor fought right to the end and made it extremely tough to finish it in two sets. I'm very happy with the way that I have played the last couple of matches. I will look forward to Shanghai now."

Murray took the first set and looked set to serve out the second when leading 5-4 before Dimitrov forced a tiebreak.

The 29-year-old, who did not drop a set in Beijing, earned an immediate mini-break and never looked back.

"Andy's pretty much the greatest player this year. He's been winning a lot and has a lot of confidence. He obviously knows how to move well on the court. All the credit to him," Dimitrov, who has lost three finals this year, said.

Murray will be seeking his third Shanghai title next week where he has a first-round bye. His first match will be against either American Steve Johnson or Slovakian Martin Klizan.